(Bloomberg) -- Purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February to a seven-year high as stronger job gains helped bolster industry activity amid severe weather.

Sales climbed 7.8 percent to a 539,000 annualized pace, the most since February 2008, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday in Washington. The reading exceeded even the most optimistic forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Nearly 70 years after Dick Tracy began wearing a two-way wrist radio in the funny pages, the technology that once seemed impossibly futuristic will be widely available by Christmas. Samsung on Wednesday introduced a digital watch for the holiday season that will let users check messages with a glance at their wrists and have conversations secret agent-style.
Via Russ Bergeron

According to the Zillow Digs Fall Home Improvement Trend and Spending Survey, 52 percent of homeowners plan to make a home improvement or addition this fall, with the majority continuing to focus on a home office or playroom.
Via Russ Bergeron

The drop in the unemployment rate in August to a 4 1/2-year low was hardly cause for celebration. The rate fell because more people stopped looking for work. More than 300,000 people were no longer working or looking for a job. Their exodus shrank the so-called labor force participation rate — the percentage of adult Americans with a job or seeking one — to 63.2 percent. It's the lowest participation rate since August 1978.
Via Russ Bergeron

For Amazon the core to their business is data. In the US the core starting point for property data is the 900+ MLS’s that are the dinosaurs of the industry – for Amazon equally as major a hurdle to overcome as Trulia and Zillow have found. However Amazon is not purely a US company and therefore it is not inconceivable to see Amazon launch a real estate serendipity engine in the UK for example where comprehensive data already exists of users as well as listings.
Via Russ Bergeron

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could begin tapering bond purchases aimed at boosting the economy later this year. But he stressed that could change, depending on how the economy performs.

In prepared remarks for his semiannual monetary report before the House financial services committee, the Fed chairman said, "With unemployment still high and declining only gradually, and with inflation running below the Committee's longer-run objective, a highly accommodative monetary policy will remain appropriate for the foreseeable future."

Bernanke said that if the incoming economic data confirms a strengthening labor market and inflation moving back toward the central bank's 2 percent target, "We anticipated that it would be appropriate to begin to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year."

The following list was put together by a veteran housing economist, asked by HousingWire for his opinion on the near-term future of the markets we cover daily. Here's David Berson's take on the 3 things you need to know about housing in 2014.

Click through the photo for the full story.

REtrending's insight:

#SiliconBeach got a jumpstart on housing, but it's good to know the broader trends will back us up.

Want to know which way the market is trending in Venice CA? Real estate market data analysis Venice CA 90291 provided by Realtor Tracy Thrower Conyers. Click through the graph for four trending characteristics in the 90291 real estate market.

“ Partisan political gamesmanship by the Assembly Appropriations Committee penalizes struggling homeowners who sold their homes in a short sale in the past eight months, forcing them to pay state income taxes on money they never received.”
Via Russ Bergeron

In one fell swoop today, Microsoft is becoming an extremely different type of company. Microsoft is pushing hard to recreate itself as a “devices and services” company and today it took a very big step in that direction by buying, you guessed it, Nokia’s mobile devices and services division.
Via Russ Bergeron

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage last week was 4.73 percent while the average for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.71 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Via Russ Bergeron

RealtyTrac data released today shows that 40 percent of all home sales in July — including single-family homes, co-ops, condos and townhomes — were made without a loan being recorded, up from 35 percent in June and 31 percent in July 2012.

In a nearly unanimous vote today, the National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors approved recommendations that will help realtor.com® compete head-to-head with third-party listing aggregators on building a comprehensive site, including more unlisted new homes and rentals.

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